I’m after some advice regarding RAF War Diaries. I have been helping a lady research her father’s war service. He was an aircraft rigger serving in the RAAF. Around the middle of 1944 he arrived in England via 11PDRC and onto 43 Base at Driffield. From there he went to 4466 Servicing Echolon in Lincoln. In 1945 he was sent to 6451 Servicing Echolon in Germany. Two questions- I gather 43 Base was where likely to be brought up to speed on the bomber aircraft he was working on? Are the War Diaries of 4466 and 6451 Servicing Echolons available? As I would like to view them to get some idea of the work they undertook? Thank you. Scott
Just bumping this up. I can't find mention of the servicing echolons in the AIR series at the National Archives on-line. However Operational Record Books are available for 466 and 462 Squadrons which flew Halifax's at the time period I have been looking at. Do the squadron ORB's contain details of work being carried out to aircraft or are they purely operational? Are there any books available that cover the work carried out by the Servicing Echolons? Scott
There's a forum member called RAFCommands - Ross, he's quite good at all things RAF and Kew. He may be able to identify any Operational Record Books for you. I had a quick look yesterday before work and drew a blank.
For Admin purposes the smallest RAF unit to produce Operations Record Book in Form 540/541 format was a Flight. The activity of Home based echelons being smaller in Establishment than a Flight were normally included as passing mentions in the ORBs of higher formations. The exceptions being Field based units that operated away from parent units who would normally provide the admin function eg Servicing Commando or Burma based S.E. For the Driffield SE then the No.43 Base ORB (AIR 29/852) is the normal recording document but level of detail is variable and would not pick out individual men or activities unless they were noteworthy. For Germany the units are normally covered in the 2nd TAF Group ORBs but again normally only officer postings and movements with only the occasional movement order archived. Regards Ross
Thank you Ross and Drew. That clarifies it clearly, I suspected that information on day to day operations of the servicing echelons would not be available. I've noticed a couple of 'Heroes of bomber Command' books on Yorkshire and Lincolnshire I might chase up for photographs of the area during the war. Thanks, Scott
Hi Scott, Is there a chance of getting a more precise date for his posting to 43 Base and subsequent posting to the Servicing Echelon? I have the 43 Base ORB and as Ross predicted the information is minimal with regard to the S.E. There seems to be a discrepancy in the number of the S.E. though as 9466 was the servicing echelon for 466 Squadron, with the ‘9’ prefix denoting that it was servicing Bomber Command aircraft. The ‘4’ prefix denotes aircraft of Transport Command so 4466 S.E. if it existed, would relate to the time 466 Squadron transferred to Transport Command which was May ’45. Also, the reference to Lincoln seems strange as the Squadron and its S.E. would be based at the same airfield for obvious reasons but 466 Squadron were never based in Lincoln. These are the only references I can find that show the Servicing Echelon for 466 Squadron in the 43 Base records. Rgds Pete
Pete, Just getting back to you with the dates. Posting to 43 Base was 16/4/45 Posting to 4466 SE was 6/9/45 Posting to 6451 SE was 26/10/45 Regards, Scott
Hi Scott His posting to 43 Base coincided with the general wind-down of bomber operations over Europe, for Squadrons based at the airfields under 43 Base control their last operation was Wangerooge on the 25th April 45. 43 Base transferred to Transport Command on the 8th May and on the 20th June 466 Squadron was disbanded and reformed as 10 Squadron RAAF with the personnel and equipment of 466 Squadron and remaining at Driffield. By the 12th July 10 Squadron RAAF had reverted back to 466 Squadron RAAF but there is no further mention of them or their S.E. in the ORB. It does mention the movement of 158 Squadron and 4158 S.E. so it does look as though the Servicing Echelons were resurrected with the 4 prefix when those Squadrons transferred to Transport Command. The 43 Base ORB finishes at the end of August with lots of men being released or posted abroad and airfields being reduced to Care and Maintenance Units. If you want to PM me your email address I’ll send you the pages, it might make a bit more sense than my explanation. Pete
Sorry to hijack this thread, but I have just discovered we had the 14th Personnel Training Command here in Fort2 near Antwerp. They suffered a terrible setback when their entire socer team was killed during a soccer match when a V2 fell on the field on 22 October 1944. I ws wondering if any information on this unit exists?
